BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--AN INTERVIEW WITH MYSTERY AUTHOR KAT JORGENSEN'S AMATEUR SLEUTH BECCA REYNOLDS

Today we sit down for a chat with Becca Reynolds from Kat Jorgensen’s River City Mysteries.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

Life was very boring. I wasn’t even involved in any murders. And I’d never even seen a dead body up close – unless you count elderly relatives I’d lost. But, thankfully, none of them had been murdered. When Kat and I met, my life changed drastically. Right away she put me in the thick of several murder investigations. I look back to the old times, and it’s like looking at someone else’s life. 

What is the one trait you like most about yourself?

People tell me things. I have a way with people. Even though I may bumble somewhat through my investigations, I have a way of getting what I need. I care about people, and our clients love to tell me their problems. A lot of times the doctors will ask me what their patients have revealed to me while waiting for their appointments. 

What do you like least about yourself?

Wow, this is almost like my job interview! Hmmm, that’s hard. I don’t see it this way, but some people close to me have said I am nosy. It helps me in my sleuthing, and I see it as inquisitive. Others call it being nosy. They’re such buzz kills. 

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

Get shot. I really didn’t like that at all. I didn’t sign up for it. We’ve had words. 

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I was naive in the first book and let Kat have her way. By Book 2, I was feeling way more secure about my role in this whole writing gig, so I let Kat know when I didn’t agree with her. We mostly argue about my love life and about who is going to get bumped off. In the second book, Your Time is Up, she wanted to kill off a really necessary character. She’d written eight chapters before the character and I could convince her it was the wrong thing to do. So we lobbied her, rallied the other characters, and our petition worked. She had to pick another victim. It was totally the right thing to do. And she finally admitted we were right. Now I feel much better about voicing my complaints. And she’s better about listening to my concerns. 

What is your greatest fear?

That’s another hard one. I think it might be ending up in another bad marriage. Wow, I hadn’t realized that until just now. I was going to say claustrophobia, which I do struggle with a lot. But the bad marriage thing must really have been a deep-seated fear, Lois, if it came out with that question. Gosh, you’re good!

What makes you happy?

Finally, an easy one. I love to be seen as competent. Solving cases makes me happy. Granddad, my biggest champion in life, thinks I’m smart and clever. Most people do not see my assets only my little screwups. So it makes me insanely happy to be seen as a winner. 

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I’d ditch the whole married to golden boy, Jack Davis, thing. Scum-sucking ex that he is. I just do not like interacting with Jack. The fact I was dumb enough to have married him in the first place is something I don’t care to remember. But Kat insists it’s a necessary part of my growth arc. Whatever.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

Hmm, do I have your word, Lois, that they won’t be reading your blog? I’m going to operate under that assumption and hope this doesn’t bite me in the butt later. 

The character that can get under my skin the most is my employer Dr. Dick Daley. Not Richard Daley. His dad actually gave him the given name of Dick, because you know he can be a real one. Somehow I think his dad knew that right from Dr. Daley’s birth. Not sure how Dr. Dick showed his true self from the get-go, but obviously he did something. Dr. Dick, he keeps a double secret file on me. I know he does. And that’s not me being paranoid, just because I work for an uptight shrink. It’s the truth. He is always on my back for something. And refuses to see all of the good I do. If I didn’t enjoy our wonderful clients so much, and know I’m making a difference, I’d seek employment elsewhere. But I have plans for my future at Daley & Palmer. The doctors just don’t know it yet.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

This is going to sound weird, but it’s so what I’d do. I’d trade places with sexy bad-boy, Max Chernov. Not that I’m advocating for a sex change, but you asked. He’s mysterious and has tons of secrets. Many times he has told me he’s one of the good guys, but he has a lot of dealings with Richmond’s Russian mob tsar, Dmitri Ivanov. So I’d want to know what he’s all about. To know his secrets. Is he a good guy? Or is he someone who operates out of the realms of the law the rest of us follow? Plus, he’s very self-assured. I’ve never once seen Max bumble or fumble at anything. 

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Kat is creative. Both as a writer and a knitter. She has mad skills with both. I admire her. She’s a good person and a loyal friend. I like that about her. Plus, she’s very comfortable in her own skin. It’s something I’m working on. Family is important to Kat, and that includes her little furry family members, Sam and Milo. I wish Higgins, Grandad’s cat, and I got along better. Kat’s trying to give me a few pointers. 

Learn more about Kat at her website. 

What’s next for you?

Kat tells me that we are going back in time and doing a prequel for the series called Your Jig is Up so readers will understand how I ended up working at Daley & Palmer and living with Granddad and Higgins. After that, some of us from the series will be going on a trip to St. Louis in Book 4, Your Addiction is Deadly. That happens later this year. She’s working me to death. Hmm…I wonder if Kat is keeping some sort of secret file on me, too. I might have to check into that. But I will get a break next year when Kat writes the first book in a new mystery series. This one will feature a yarn shop so Kat can write about knitting and knitters along with killing off a few folks. Murder and Knitting. Sounds like fun to me. 

Your Eight O’clock is Dead

A River City Mystery, Book 1

Becca Reynolds is having a bad day. Her grandfather’s lecture (#405: Eat a Healthy Diet or Die Not Trying) makes her late for her job at Daley & Palmer, the psychiatric group where she works as office manager – her title not theirs. But she knows her day has taken a really bad turn when she finds the firm’s eight o’clock patient dead with Dr. Daley’s letter opener opening the patient instead of the mail.

With the fledgling firm in danger of an early demise, Becca appoints herself the unofficial investigator since the police seem to be looking in all the wrong places.

The case takes Becca from the sordid depths of the Russian mafia to the upscale West End of Richmond, Virginia (known locally as River City), and even to her own back yard. In the course of the investigation, she finds herself in hot water, hot danger, and with dreams of hot men.

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